With his previous experience in breeding and showing such as canaries Dad was not at all reluctant on hearing the comment about Peony “ She is very nice, why don’t you show her” and thus we entered the ranks of exhibitors. From there it was only a small and inevitable step into breeding from her.
About that time I was away from home studying to qualify as a Teacher. After qualifying I was appointed to teach Science and Maths at an inner city Boy’s Secondary Modern School near the family home and life seemed to return to normal.Shortly afterwards Dad took over a Pub, an old coaching inn called The Radclyffe Arms and Mum promptly acquired our affix. I then met and married Margaret who, although not from a background of pet owning, soon fell under the spell of Dachshunds and has been enamoured of them ever since.

The photograph of Mum shows her with two of our min smooths and a min long from an early litter. Of course in those early days dachshunds were varieties and not breeds so interbreeding was allowed and we often found recessive min longs in our min smooth litters which were then registered by coat. Margaret fell in love with the min longs. As her maiden name was McGill, Gilldax became her affix for min longs. Both affixes, Radclyffe and Gilldax, are compounded for life at the Kennel Club.
Margaret and I moved down to Bristol for me to gain experience at a co-ed Comprehensive School where I became Head of Biology. A colleague and I organised the out of school hours “Gardening Club” which introduce me to the cultivation of Orchids. A hobby that I still pursue.
Soon after our move Mum and Dad retired and joined us in Bristol and we resumed showing the dachshunds as a family group. Unfortunately this was disrupted when I sought further academic qualifications spending a year at Oxford University taking the Advanced Certificate in Education (an M.A equivalent). On its completion I transferred from teaching in Schools to lecturing in Further Education.
The time commitment for the research and preparation required by my lecturing was extended further by my seeking still further academic qualifications and I took and passed the examinations for membership of the Institute of Biology. Although a major interest for me at that time was Botany the syllabus for Part1 was broad based biology, including undergraduate level genetics. I opted, in Part 2, for the Physiology and Pharmacology modules. Successfully completing both parts qualified me to add the letters M.I.Biol.after my name and eventually resulted in my becoming a Chartered Biologist. I then attended Southampton University to extend my qualifications to include an M.Sc. This academic work and study left little time for outside interests but although Margaret and I were thus unavoidably absent from the show ring we were never without our dachshunds.
A severe attack of Meniere’s left me with hearing impaired and with tinnitus. This led me to taking early retirement, as our dachshunds were all also pensioners, we were then in need of a foundation bitch to show and breed on from. We were lucky enough to be able to renew our friendship with Sylvia Kershaw who allowed us to have the beautiful Hobbithill Jaybird (Pearl). Our present stock, including the five champions we have bred all stem from Pearl, a fact we celebrate by still naming all our puppies from the Linnean names of birds.

Margaret

While still playing I was fortunate to meet Margaret through Rugby, we married in 1956 and have enjoyed a happy marriage ever since. Our marriage, like our dogs has always been a partnership. Our dogs have always been registered in her name just as Mum and Dad’s dogs were registered in Mum’s name. While Mum and Dad were still alive, we adopted the affix, Gilldax, for Margaret to register her dogs and took over the Radclyffe affix on the death of Mum who had briefly outlived Dad.
Although nowadays Margaret is very much the behind the scenes partner this was not always the case. She was never happy in the ring either exhibiting or judging but while Mum and Dad were alive and the children young we went to shows as a family, I served as chauffeur and handler, as Mum, like Margaret, did not like being in the ring.
Many of the older exhibitors will probably remember Margaret, and her famous home-made cakes, as the caterer for the Dachshund Club of Wales’ early shows at the Chepstow Drill Hall. We travelled to Chippenham to attend their Ringcraft classes and again Margaret took over the catering for their shows at Devizes for several years.
In a different aspect of her catering Margaret has always been the one to bottle feed puppies in need of extra care and affection, and to nurse all those not in such need. Her tendency to suffer “sympathetic labour pains” however did promote me to serve as canine midwife. The combination has proved the basis of a happy, successful and rewarding partnership in regard to our breeding.
Despite my preference for the min smooths, Margaret’s first love has always been the min longs. Even though we now only have the one min long dog, Radclyffe Quest Fer Ice, known as Jacob, he is Margaret’s devoted shadow and never willingly far from her. Her preference for min longs does not prevent her lavishing attention and affection equally on the min smooths; it is not only at the Kennel Club where the dogs are her’s.
Sadly Margaret is now disabled and has had to retire from helping with her second love Staffordshire Bull Terriers. For many years she helped run the Gwent SBT Ringcraft classes and served the breed as a Rescue Co-ordinator for the South West of England. All our dogs live in the house and we were always glad that our dachshunds would accept in the occasional young Stafford in need of urgent short term fostering.
Many of our present friends derive from those who have purchased puppies from us or have taken on a rescued Stafford. Christmas is a joyous time when we get many Christmas cards containing pictures and stories of many now elderly dogs who were our “babies” and rescued Staffords who have fallen on their feet and been placed into vetted loving homes. Margaret has so much to be proud of even though many of today’s exhibitors probably would not know her or of her.